Editorial Opinion: Mildly busy week highlighted by the commitment of MI RB Austin White, which gives Michigan the top instate QB, RB, and WR in this class. On to the show…

Happy Trails

I took the opportunity presented by Austin White's commitment to rearrange the RB board. Anyone with a defensive position got shoved to that side of the ball on the assumption that's where Michigan will recruit them in the future and a couple marginal guys got sliced.

Other departures:

FL CB Spencer Boyd finally committed to ND, surprising no one.

A couple of South Carolina guys committed elsewhere.

MD Troy Gloster is down to West Virginia and Stanford, which is one screwy list if you ask me.

M did not make UT DT Ricky Heimuli's top ten.

Michigan was a real longshot in Heimuli's recruitment, but not even making a top ten list is harsh. Gloster's a mid-three star linebacker, so none of this is particularly damaging. On to that damage, though…

Slipping away?

MN OL Seantrel Henderson's recruitment has undergone an unfortunate twist in the last couple weeks. Last week he tentatively announced four officials, none of which were to Michigan, and said Florida State—still not Michigan—might be the fifth. This week:

Offensive tackle Seantrel Henderson told ESPN affiliate Web site GatorCountry.com, "Florida, USC and Ohio State... its going to be one of those three. They play for championships and they put a lot of people in the NFL."

Wha? Okay, it's not final…

"It's not that I've closed the door on anyone. I'm still open but I've got some things that are important to me. It's going to be a tough choice but I'm going to make the right one whatever that is."

…but that's a huge shift from Henderson's previous statements and the widely held epinion that Michigan was a player on his short list and possibly even a tentative leader. Also there is this from MaxPreps:

In fact, one source close to the situation expects it to ultimately come down to OSU and USC, with Minnesota likely having already been ruled out.

Adding confusion to confusion, epinion merchants on M premium sites still say Michigan's a factor. So… yeah. Not dead yet in the same way Henderson wasn't in the bag earlier in the year, but chances haven't exactly gone up over the past couple weeks.

Oh, Right, That

I promised some more Christian Pace scuttlebutt in last week's Tuesday Recruitin' and then forgot all about it. Allow me to make amends. A reader sends this along:

A friend of mine is close to the Avon Lake football program. He's a former MAC football player, his kid is on the team, and he helps out with their off season conditioning program. He is not a cheerleader who is normally wowed by kids, but he confirmed to me last weekend that Pace is the real deal. He mentioned that Florida State was absolutely smitten with him. The FSU coaches actually told Pace that he is better than one or two of their starters today and would start for FSU in the 2009 season (as a 17 year old). That's obviously an over-the-top statement, but FSU clearly saw him as a guy who would play immediately and wanted him badly. I wonder if Rod is expecting Pace to at least be in the two-deep for the 2010 season, and thus encouraging the early enrollment. Otherwise, enrolling early just to be redshirted the next season seems like a form of self-torture. Especially for a recruit who had good coaching/training in HS and is relatively polished.

This jives with what the recruiting-mad Florida State fans at Tomahawk Nation told me: Rick Trickett was crazy about Pace, downright loony, and was really disappointed Michigan got him. Given the close association between Trickett and Rodriguez, that bodes well for his future.

What The… No. I Must Resist.

LA WR commit Drew Dileo comes in for the big fluff in his local paper, and you get one-count-it-one guess as to which current NFL player gets dragged up for comparison. Correct:

The rest of the article has fascinating insight into Dileo's recruitment, including this remarkably self-aware statement:

“I know my profile isn’t as great as a lot of other kids’ around the country,” he said. “I know (Michigan) reached out there a little bit to get me. It’s not about proving anybody wrong. I just don’t want people up there to feel like I wasted a scholarship.”

Yipes. Hope he wasn't referring to this space, which attempted to be kind but was blunt in its assessment of Dileo's recruiting profile and the class composition when he joined up ("not terribly enthused"). Here will be a true test of Rodriguez's ability to unearth productive who-dats. They found the guy, they pursued him heavily…

“Of all the coaches that came through,” Parkview assistant David Simoneaux said, “Michigan was the most aggressive. They said they just had to have him.”

…and they got him. I hope it works out.

Unexpected In The Other Direction

Josh Helmholdt follows up on CA LB Tony Jefferson, who told ESPN last week Michigan would be on his list of official visits and USC was out. The article doesn't actually have any quotes, so let's just highlight this:

One reason Michigan likely has made a quick rise on Jefferson’s list is because of his desire to receive a highly respected degree. Jefferson committed to Stanford very early in his junior year, citing the Cardinal’s academic prestige. He eventually reneged on that commitment, but still is looking for a strong academic situation.

"Michigan is going to be tough to beat," he said. "It's a great program. The networking is on point at Michigan and the alumni system is amazing. The coaching staff is building something great over there."

Schwing. Grimes isn't highly rated on Rivals but is Scout's #5 corner and the offers agree with Scout: Miami, Alabama, Georgia, and plenty others. Grimes visited earlier in the year and has scheduled a return trip for the Notre Dame game; that's the first official he's set.

And, yes, I am contractually obligated to highlight this quote:

"I was with Vladimir (Emilien)," Grimes said of his time in Ann Arbor. "That's my boy. He told me one difference (at Michigan) is once you get there, you are not just a piece of meat, you are a part of the family. That's something I can believe because he didn't play none of his senior year after he tore his ACL, but they didn't just cut him off. They kept his offer and he committed there. "

At this point I'd love nothing more than to never hear the world "family" in connection with Michigan football, good or bad.

More of the Same

When asked to name his leader, Christian said, "I like Michigan best. I feel I have the biggest bond with their coaches. I feel like it's a family there. Michigan is a great school."

Plz commit ASAP plz. Christian may bring along teammate and PA S Brandon Ifill, who's recently declared a top two of M and Maryland and will visit August 31st. Picking up Christian and Grimes would be a stellar 1-2 punch at corner.

Adios, Guy Whose Name I Just Figured Out

"Penn State and North Carolina would be two visits," Fortt said. "But I have to go back over things. We visited 15 or 16 schools. I have to go back through my notes and pictures. I visited Penn State and North Carolina recently, so those schools are (fresh) in my mind."

Fortt does not see himself taking all five official visits.

"I might make three visits," he said.

Fortt tentatively plans an unofficial to Michigan in the next month, but M is clearly behind at least two schools and is just barely hanging on.

Henderson in the first place, esp. coming off a 3-9 season. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't we have ever gotten the consensus #1 recruit in the nation (whatever that means...). Guys at that rarified level of the recruiting stratosphere are always going to go with the sexiest, whitest-hot program of the moment, and even after 1997 we weren't that.

Man, I hope we haven't slipped with Seantrel Henderson. WTF happened? I probably jinxed our recruitment of him, and I apologize. It does seem like his tone has changed a little bit, that he has been putting more emphasis on his team being a championship contender. I wonder what brought that about. I understand that going 3-9 and being in the middle of rebuilding doesn't exactly scream "national contender."

...but right now, given the track records, the coaches, etc., as a 17-year-old kid without allegiances to any school other than Minnesota, would you rather go to USC, Ohio State or Michigan? Be honest.

I don't know why I feel so strongly about this. It's one of the most commonly asked recruiting questions. I just don't want recruits to feel that they are expected to recruit for us after they commit. Maybe it's because they've just dealt with enough pressure choosing a school, and now they're faced with more pressure to recruit others. For once, I'd like to see a recruit answer, "Nobody." But that wouldn't make for a very exciting answer to give a Michigan interviewer and fan base.

Could any of the coaches/knowledgeable gentlemen around here give me an idea of Seantrel's ability within Michigan's blocking scheme? I know he's the consensus number one prospect, and assuredly he could thrive anywhere, but would Michigan's offense highlight his particular talents or dull them or is it moot? Just curious, seeing as how Rich Rod's MO thus far in lineman recruiting has been fit over prestige.

I was thinking the same thing. Of course it'd be great to have him, but isn't it true that Rodriguez & co are looking for smaller, more agile linemen? To whatever extent that is true, perhaps Henderson is considering that to be a large factor in how he'd succeed at UM.

"This is the EMU game, not the emo game."

Obviously, Rich Rod and the coaching staff believe that Henderson would be a great fit in their zone blocking scheme. If they didn't believe that Henderson would thrive in this offense, then they wouldn't be wasting their time recruiting him as hard as they have been.

Given that he's Garland Rivers's kid and a guy at a position of need, I was curious why we probably won't be offering Snow. I asked Sam Webb this morning why, and he says it all boils down to foot speed and lateral movement abilities, or the lack thereof, at least as a linebacker.

I'm of two minds on this. Rationally, I completely understand and agree with the need for speed on the defensive side of the ball, but I guess my emotional reaction is that I always like to see legacy commits too. One of the underlying reasons for the Boren apostasy was that his little brother wasn't offered, and I was fine with that, so I'm not being consistent, either.

I hope that we aren't really out of it with Seantrel. I mean I understand that you are the number one recruit in the nation and at USC and OSU you get treated like a superstar and everything but still this guy would be a great get for our offensive line.

Henderson's already stated that he wants to go to a place that best prepares him for the NFL. I'm sure he also wants to go to a school that's going to be in the running for a NC every year. Given the widely-accepted (however unjustified or inaccurate) perception that spread offenses don't prepare OLs for the pro game, that would seem to knock Michigan from serious final contention, although he's also listing Florida. That leads to the other part of the equation: given that Florida, USC and OSU are considered to be among the logical contenders for the NC virtually every year under Meyer, Carroll and Tressel, Michigan falls short here too, especially after 3-9.

If RR were to convince Henderson to come here, I'd rate it as one of the biggest recruiting upsets in the last 10 years nationally. I suppose anything is possible, but I think our chances are very remote in reality.